Champions League draw and thoughts

1 day ago 19

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Happy Friday to you.

The main talking point today is the Champions League ‘draw’ which takes place today, and even though it’s barely even a draw at this point, it’ll still probably be a tedious mess of a thing that looks and sounds like it was scripted by bad AI.

‘ChatPCP, create a presenter with zero charisma, and a former footballer whose name is vaguely familiar. Now make them have a conversation which is as awkward and stilted as the ‘comedy’ questions that guy from Sky Sports tries with Mikel Arteta sometimes.’

From an Arsenal perspective, it’s about which of PSV or Feyenoord we’re going to face. I can’t say I have a particular preference for one over the other, but the fact that Robin van Persie is about to be appointed the new head coach of Feyenoord means that’s almost certainly who we’re going to get. As if this season hasn’t had enough ‘narrative’ already, this feels like it’s just going to happen.

Then we’ll get all the stuff about his time at Arsenal, we’ll get the stuff about him and Mikel Arteta being former teammates, we’ll get quotes dug up when he labels Arsenal fans sensitive, and there will be no escape. Would I quite enjoy if we played them, hammered them, and went through to the next round? Absolutely. But progress is the most important thing, and I don’t really care about much else.

It’s not as if he’s done a particularly great job at Heerenveen, just 7 wins in all competitions this season, and they suffered a 9-1 defeat one point, so I guess it’s more an appointment of romanticism than practicality. The former player of some repute returning to his first club to take over the reins etc. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Anyway, we’ll find out later on whether it’s them and him, or PSV.

As for what we can expect from the Champions League, it’s so difficult to assess right now. My strong opinion is that our lack of firepower is a massive hindrance to making real progress, but at the same time we have this excellent defensive platform which could help balance things out. Not to mention that knock-out football can be weird. Those of a certain vintage will remember Arsenal making it to the Champions League final in 2006 because an unlikely back four of Eboue, Toure, Senderos and Flamini at left-back set a record for the amount of games/minutes without conceding a goal.

I think we’ve got better defenders now than back then, but they’re going to have to produce something similar for us to have a chance. Ultimately though, when you look at what some of the other clubs have at their disposal up front, especially in comparison to our options right now (and even when we get a couple of players back), that level of threat is typically what makes the difference. You can say ‘Well, you never know in football!’, but you mostly know and that’s where I am with Europe.

I’ve seen people say it might be our best chance of winning something this season, but I don’t feel that at all. I’m going on entirely on vibes and gut feeling but I can just about envisage a situation where things happen in the Premier League that ultimately work in our favour. It’s improbable but not impossible. I just can’t see it Europe. I could be wrong, obviously, but I guess time will tell … on both fronts.

All eyes this weekend are on the West Ham game, and Mikel Arteta will meet the press this morning ahead of that one. I don’t think he’ll be giving too much away beforehand, but I’d love to have been a fly on the wall for some of the discussions between him and his coaching staff when it comes to selecting his front three for tomorrow. I can’t see beyond Mikel Merino, especially after his contribution against Leicester, but does the lack of anything on the bench give him some pause for thought? Is there anything different he can do with his squad selection?

We’ll bring you all the stories from the press conference over on Arseblog News, and we’ll talk in more depth about the West Ham game in our preview podcast on Patreon later this afternoon. In the meantime, there’s a brand new Arsecast below if you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, filled with Arsenal chat and a prizes galore (sort of)!

For now, have a good one.